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COMPONENTS
Red Blood Cells
  • They give the red colour to blood
  • It contains haemoglobin- it carries oxygen throughout the body
 White Blood Cells
  • These are further divided into neutrophils, Lymphocytes( responsible for resistance against infections and eosinophils( responsible for allergy)
Platelets
  •  They stop bleeding
  • Low levels can cause excess bleeding
Hence the investigations of blood involves finding quantity of these cells
IMPORTANCE
  •  When the red cells are low, Haemoglobin is also low. So it is difficult to circulate adequate oxygen to the whole of the body.
  • Since heart helps to circulate blood, when red cells are low, the heart has to work harder and faster to give oxygen.Due to this fast beating of heart, it can cause sounds in heart(Murmur)
  • Red cells when they break down, produce jaundice. Jaundice is broken down and removed from the body by the liver and excreted as urine, faeces( Remember, the yellow colour?)
  • Babies are born with very high haemoglobin. After birth, these are broken down slowly to adult values. Hence jaundice in babies in first 2 weeks.
 
  • When white cells( immunity cells) are low, the chances of infection are more. Generally, the body makes more white cells in infections.
  • In infections, white cells are killed. Hence the pus. Signals are sent to the bone and more cells are produced. (Compare them to the army. When enemy invasion, the first defence attack and call for more help.)
  • When white cells are extremely low, there are more infections. Not viral but bacterial infections presenting as pus formation in lung(pneumonia), brain (abscess), bone (osteomyelitis)
  • The Eosinophils( allergy forming cells) send signals saying that there is allergy-causing substance and its taken care of. Anti-allergy medications try to stop this signals.

 

  • When platelets are low, there is tendency to bleed longer
  • When platelets are low, they can bleed into the skin, urine, faeces, brain, lungs. Generally, skin precedes other systems. hence skin bleeds are emergency. any red spots on the skin needs to be seen by a doctor as an emergency

 

  • All the cells above, other than the Quantity, even the functioning matters. That means if they don’t function adequately, then they can cause similar problems.
  • These cells are produced in the bone. Millions are made every day and millions are destroyed. When bone gives up, then spleen and liver take over. so they can enlarge.
  • Every one of these cells has a life expectancy.
  • There are ways to send a signal to the bone to produce more cells. These chemicals to signal can be manufactured artificially.They are given in rare cases

DANGER SIGNS

  •  Bleeding spots
  • Unexplained bleeding
  • Repeated Bacterial infections (especially in babies)
  • Pale looking child
  • Bone pains, tummy distention with large organ in tummy
This is the easiest explanation of blood function ever. It gets a lot complicated, but this helps understand basics.
For more information, look at individual sections

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